BARE, in a general sense, signifies not covered. Hence we say bare-headed, bare-footed, &c.
The Roman women, in times of public distress and mourning, went bare-headed, with their hair loose.—Among both Greeks, Romans, and Barbarians, we find a feast called Nudipedalia.—The Abyssinians never enter their churches, nor the palaces of kings and great men, but bare-footed.